Hundreds of balloons lifted off over Newcastle to mark the start of the city's Warm Zone Project to improve energy efficiency.

Children from the city's Atkinson Road Primary School launched the 500 balloons yesterday with David Clelland, MP, Lord Mayor Coun Margaret Carter and Lady Mayoress, Mary Kelly, to spread the message to all residents in the city.

Newcastle Warm Zone is a major new Government-backed initiative to help eradicate fuel poverty and improve energy efficiency across all homes. It is the largest project of its kind in the UK to date.

Fuel poverty is where householders have to spend more than 10% of their income to keep warm.

The project will work on a ward-by-ward basis across Newcastle with Benwell being the first tackled.

The four-year project has £27m funding and is a not-for-profit partnership between Newcastle Council, Your Homes Newcastle, Transco and Scottish Power.

Warm Zone will visit all 120,000 homes in Newcastle and install free loft and wall insulation and central heating measures where needed.